Harry potter and the breeding darkness

Chapter 49

Stepping into the room he shared with Harry, after checking what he normally did first thing in the morning and working out, Tom saw Black sitting by the bed, eating his breakfast. The first thing out of his mouth was, "Any signs of him coming around aside from what we've already seen?"

Nodding, holding up his hand while he finished chewing then swallowing, Sirius said, "Actually, yeah. He opened his eyes about fifteen minutes ago. It was only for a few moments and it didn't look like he was real focused on anything, but it happened."Taking that as a good sign, Tom sighed. "Today, stay up here with him. I have things to attend to. I'll check in when I can, of course, but if something happens, or he comes around, send an elf for me. Also, send an elf for the medi-witch when he needs the cream applied. If anything at all odd happens, let me know.""Will do," Sirius told him with a firm expression. He had fully planned to stay with Harry all day anyway, so that wasn't a big deal.Sighing, sitting on the edge of the bed and rubbing Harry's leg, Tom wasn't sure what to do here. He was a patient person, no doubt there. That was self proving with what was going on. This kind of patience though was a whole other matter. In fact, it wasn't something he had dealt with before and wasn't sure what to do or how to handle it. Not to mention the fact he wanted to exact retribution on Wormtail now for what he had done, not wait for Harry to come around. He would wait though. Harry would want it for not only this mess but so much in the past. Shaking his head, he didn't know how to handle some of this, though it increased that want there to push forward with what had to be done so that this mess ended and there would be less danger for his lover. There would always be danger, of that there was no doubt, even when he was in power. The degree of it would lessen though and he could openly have Harry guarded by others. That would set his mind more at ease over it.Thinking over what all had to be done that day and how some of it was tasks Harry took on for him, Tom tried to come up with a way that he didn't have to shoulder all of it. Looking at Black after a minute of sorting through it and focusing on what he was having Narcissa do, he said, "Harry told me you know some about the Hallows Prophecy.""I do," Sirius confirmed, sending his now empty dishes to the kitchen. Leaning back, he asked, "Why?""As you probably know, I have Narcissa looking into it. If I send her up here with the information she has, can you see if you can put it together for me? That burn—it does look like the symbol. That is odd and I'm wondering if it's not related to that Prophecy. Harry usually attends to these things for me and I would like the information. All I need is for you to gather what she has and get her to explain it to you. Then you can pass it on to me. Plus, it'll give her a chance to look at the burn and work out what she needs to do there. I don't think it's sufficiently scabbed over to do anything. Maybe, if you're willing, she can practice on you to get it down correctly."Giving a snort and small grin at being a test dummy to apply makeup on, Sirius shook his head but said, "Sure. I'll let Cissy do that. I'm not sure about anything when it comes to that crap and how to work with it or what she might need to do. The other—that's fine too." Stopping, he looked at the man and wanted to ask about the Prophecy shite, but didn't. It was his thought he would figure it out when he heard it."When I come up here to check on him, I'll get the information from you. She's good about having it in a concise order that I can work with even if I don't hear what she has to say on the topic." Stopping, he looked at his sleeping lover then sighed. "Alright, I have work to do. Anything happens, let me know." Standing, seeing Black nod, he then swept out to start the day, feeling like he was missing his right arm as he did.

Sitting in Professor McGonagall's office, Hermione and Ginny were exchanging astonished looks. Ron looked pale and was shaking slightly. Even the twins seemed slightly off-kilter over what they had just heard.

Looking at the students sitting there then glancing at Albus, Minerva asked, softly, trying to keep a gentle tone, "Have any of you seen anyone slip anything to Mr. Potter? Or anyone taking an overt interest in him that seems odd?""No, nothing, Professor," Hermione said, shaking her head. Looking around, the others were doing the same."Harry's gotten stuff before like that and just stuffs it in his trunk or tosses it out," Ron added. "I haven't seen anything lately, though.""We didn't think so," Albus said with a sigh, shifting in his chair, shaking his head. "If you do hear anything odd, let us know, please.""We will," Ginny told him with a firm nod."Harry's going to be fine, isn't he?" Hermione asked, concerned, brow creased."He'll be just fine," Albus soothed, smiling at the young witch. "He just has to be isolated for a week is all. It's for his own protection. Mostly, he'll just sleep. We have someone checking on him to make sure that he's fine and nothing goes wrong.""Is there any way to find out who did this?" Hermione asked, looking between the headmaster and her head of house.Sighing softly, Minerva shook her head, "No. We've tried to trace who might have sent them, but couldn't. Potions like this don't come through straight channels so going about it that way won't work either. Once Harry is better, we'll ask him, of course, but we don't think he'll know. The card on it said Nick so we assume, since he ate them, that he didn't realize it wasn't from his boyfriend. We'll keep trying, of course, but we don't hold out much hope of tracing who sent them."Sighing, looking at her hands that were folded in her lap, Hermione shook her head. "Why would someone do this?""That's something we can never understand when a situation like this arises," Albus told her gently. "When we do get a reason, it usually doesn't make much sense. When the potion wears off, the feelings that it produces won't stay. I don't think some realize that.""We'll keep looking into this and see what we can find, " Minerva assured them. "Don't worry about Harry. He's been given the antidote and will be fine. It'll just take a week.""Can we see him? I don't mean stay, but just pop in and say hi?" Ginny asked.Face taking on a firm look, Minerva shook her head, "No. No one will be allowed to go in. Unlike some love potions that are triggered by the name on the card sent, this is done with a phrase of some kind. As we have no way of figuring out what it is, we can't chance someone accidentally saying it. He has to be left alone. It's nothing to worry about. He's going to sleep through most of it. With all he's doing, I imagine the rest will do him good anyway.""Alright," Hermione sighed. "If something goes wrong, you'll tell us, right?""We will," Albus told her gently, smiling. "If you hear anything odd at all, let us know, please.""We will," Ginny assured him with a nod.After ushering the students out, Minerva removed her glasses and rubbed her eyes in a tired way. "Filius and I had no luck tracing anything. I take it the feelers to the shops that actually dare carry this potion got not results?""No," Albus sighed, shaking his head in a dejected way. "I didn't expect it to, honestly. All I got were denials that they would carry such a thing though I know they do.""I thought as much," Minerva told him with a sigh. "He'll be fine, that's all that matters. The antidote has already been given, so he just needs for the effects to wear off. When he's back to normal, I'll talk with him about double checking what he receives in this area and teach him the spells needed. That way it doesn't happen again. It's a case of closing the barn door after the unicorns are out, but it might prevent it from happening again.""That's wise, yes. I imagine he'll be more on his toes after this," Albus sighed, shaking his head. He didn't like this turn of events and wondered if might be related to some other things going on. After all, he knew that potion could be used to do more than make someone infatuated with you. It could work for other things as well. Settling back, stroking his beard, he said, "Maybe a short course for all our students in detecting such things is in order. If it happened to Harry, it could take place with others. We know he is more cautious than most of our students about such areas.""Good idea," Minerva told him, nodding. Putting her glasses on, she said, straightening up, "I'll get with Filius and Thorfinn to see what we can do here to teach them. Even our younger ones can learn the most simple of them. It can only help in the future and may prevent someone else from ending up in this situation.""Do that, Minerva," Albus said, standing. "I'll let you handle it." Seeing her nod, he then made his way to the door. He had much to do, but needed a nap. He was so tired anymore. With all that needed to be done before the end came, he had to conserve his energy the best he could.